Review: From the Ashes by B. S. H. Garcia

Blurb:

The civil war ends now.

Igtheos and his rebels have fought tirelessly against a would-be dictator and his army for almost two years. The city they’ve holed up in has become a prison, soon to be a tomb if they cannot arrange a means of escape.

When the enemy leader offers an armistice that’s too good to be true, Igtheos reluctantly accepts, thinking it will buy him enough time to smuggle those loyal to him out of the city. But he quickly learns the cost of choosing hope over caution as he finds himself caught in his enemy’s sinister plan, fighting a final unexpected battle. Failure means death, or worse, the loss of his loved ones.

And he only has one night to determine everyone’s fate.

From the Ashes is a prequel novelette that takes place over two thousand years prior to the events in Of Thieves and Shadows—volume one in the epic fantasy series, The Heart of Quinaria.

Review:

Desperation is a dangerous thing, and the lengths to which one can go to escape their fate can may bring worse things than they thought possible. This is the core to B. S. H. Garcia’s novelette, From the Ashes, a prequel story to her epic fantasy series The Heart of Quinaria. And this theme of desperation in the face of insurmountable odds is handled beautifully, as Garcia crafts a quick and heartbreaking tale that has perfectly set up the events of the series to come and has left me eager to dive into the series in full.

After two years of fighting against a would-be dictator in a brutal civil war, Igtheos and his rebels have been brought to the brink of destruction. Holing up in a city that has become a final bastion for the oppressed humans, Igtheos is offered a show of peace to end this conflict. Seeing no option but to accept the terms, he hopes to take this opportunity to sneak his closest companions and loved ones out of the city, but when an offer seems too good to be true, in all likelihood, it is. And before he knows it, Igtheos is faced with a violent battle, with the lives of everyone he loves hanging in the balance.

For such a short story, Garcia excels at evoking emotional responses to this tale of desperation. Not a single word is wasted as we’re introduced to Igtheos, his human companion Elize, and their hybrid daughter Zaria. From the beginning, while we are well aware of the war that is looming overhead, we are given a tender moment between this family, a small moment of a child being unable to fall asleep due to a bad dream. It’s such a simple scene that speaks much louder as the novelette progresses that sets up the characters perfectly for the conflict that is soon to come, from Igtheos’s aloofness owing to his long-lived age, to Elize’s suspicion that Zaria’s nightmare is something more or that the show of armistice is not what it seems.

And in a blink, everything does change. While the surprise battle does feel abrupt—which, narratively does make sense, but in execution felt a tad jarring—the second half of the novelette hits extremely hard, and that is all thanks to the tremendous setup done by Garcia. In just 75 short pages, we experience love and hope and desperation and loss, and even the briefest of character introductions end up with the heaviest emotional responses later. It’s a heartbreaking story through and through, punctuated by Garcia’s wonderful prose and knack for gripping action.

From the Ashes also works extremely well as an introduction to The Heart of Quinaria. Even having not read the first full novel in the series, I still felt engrossed in the world, and Garcia does a fantastic job setting up the events to come in the millennia to follow. If you’re unsure of whether it’s necessary to read Of Thieves and Shadows first, be assured that you can jump straight into this novelette and still get the most out of it.

Without question, From the Ashes is an excellent introduction to the world of The Heart of Quinaria. This quick read is rife with heavy emotion and pulse-pounding action, and if that’s indicative of what’s to come for the rest of the series, then count me in.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to go put ink to an offer I can’t refuse. Extended warranty? How could I lose?!